more on this temperament thing

[david severance]

List

I don't if everyone who is currently on this list is familiar with Ed Foote
but may I state for the record that he is the resident HT guru and that if
you have any interest in the subject at all please make it a priority to
attend one of his classes at the next convention. I attended the one in
Crystal City and found it insightful.

David Severance

At 07:07 AM 10/25/01 EDT, you wrote:
>Ric writes: 
>>>This (stretching)  is only possible because of ET.  With 5ths all over the
>place in HT's you don't have this option.    That is the other thing that
>is exasperating about HT's, the tests are either non existant or so
>so few it takes 3 times as long and that much more tuning to make
>corrections.  And that is just in the bearings.<<
>
>     Hmm,  any of the earlier temperaments are much easier to achieve that 
>ET.  ET is a very unforgiving structure, everything has to be aligned in a 
>variety of ways.  A well- temperament, otoh, is simply a musical philosophy 
>made manifest, and it is a mistake to apply the 20th century demands for 
>precision.  Yes,  they can be loose in their execution and still provide the 
>tonal palette that earlier composers used. Yes, they can vary from one tuning 
>to the next and still be recognized.  
>    It is much like comparing an architects drawing of a building (ET) to an 
>artists rendition of it,(WT).  The image is the same, but one is dependant on 
>accuracy and the other, art.  Agreed, an architect can be an artist in their 
>work, but we are talking about the image produced, and there are profound 
>differences between an clinical elevation and an artist's rendition. 
>
><<I know a machine makes all of this easier, and perhaps the machine, of
>all the ironies, only makes historical tuning possible on modern pianos.
>So we are content with what the machine imposes....nah I wouldn't say that.>>
>
>    Content with an impostion??  That is one perspective, however, the 
>majority of pianists, in my experience, are more than content, they are 
>stunned at how much they had been missing.  As far as "irony", I offer two 
>facts: 
>1.   history has shown that technology drives intonational changes. 
>2.   Intonation, in Western music, has changed continually since the days of 
>Pythagoras. 
>
>   I would pose a question in return.  Are we to believe that with the 
>realization of a true equal temperament, that the historical evolution of 
>intonation has come to an end?   
>Regards, 
>Ed Foote RPT 
>
>